Tire iron

ABSTRACT

The aforementioned invention being a tire flip exercise apparatus comprised of four, hollow, tubular metal corners members gripping an internal sidewall of a tractor tire. The corner members being slidably interlocking to adjust to a plurality of tires. Two of the corner members also having handles and another two corner members having weights. Objects of the invention include allowing athletes to train for tire flip events safely and adjust the heaviness of a tractor tire for varying workouts.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to exercise equipment. More particularly, the invention relates to a tractor tire exercise brace apparatus.

BACKGROUND

Strongman events date back to the early 1900s when circus performers would demonstrate various feats of strength: such as steel bending, horse pulling and chain breaking. Today strongman events have evolved into an eclectic competition in which competitors display their raw power by lifting rocks, toting refrigerators, and pulling trains. The most famous competitions are the ‘World's Strongest Man,’ the ‘Arnold Strongman Classic’ and the ‘Strongman Champions League.’ One event in these competitions is known as the ‘tire flip’—contestants are required to flip a large tractor tire (sometimes weighing up to 1,000 lbs.) several hundred feet to a finish line in a short period of time. These competitions have become popular, but the exercise industry has only just begun developing practice tools to help contestants prepare. A single U.S. Pat. No. 7,976,439B2 granted to Abelbeck disclosed a tire flipping training simulator comprised of weighted braces balanced upon a tilting axis. While this invention simulates the flipping action of the exercise, no patents were found in the prior art that allow an athlete to train with an actual tire and adjust the weight of a tire to meet their workout needs.

The foregoing examples of related art and limitation related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive, and they do not imply any limitations on the invention described and claimed herein. Various limitations of the related art will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading and understanding of the specification below and the accompanying drawings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The device herein disclosed and described provides a tire flip exercise apparatus. The aforementioned invention comprised of a plurality of segmented braces being affixed to the inside wall of a tractor tire and having a set of hand holds and weight plate attachments thereto. An object of the invention is to allow users to pickup tractor tires in an ergonomic fashion by providing hand holds that allow users to keep their hands closer together rather than straddling the outside diameter.

Another object of the invention is to provide a plurality of clamping plates that allow the invention to cleverly grip a side wall of a tractor tire. Said plates are affixed to said tire by means of plates held together by bolts therein.

Another object of the invention is to provide an adjustable apparatus that can be installed on tractor tires with varying inside diameters. The apparatus is comprised of four ‘L-shaped’ members with sliding, tubular joints being temporarily locked by means of bolts inserted in holes therebetween.

Another object of the invention is to provide weighted plates allowing users to increase the weight of the tire. Said plates being held to the apparatus by means of bolts that pass through both the plates and flat members on the invention.

It is briefly noted that upon a reading this disclosure, those skilled in the art will recognize various means for carrying out these intended features of the invention. As such it is to be understood that other methods, applications and systems adapted to the task may be configured to carry out these features and are therefore considered to be within the scope and intent of the present invention, and are anticipated. With respect to the above description, before explaining at least one preferred embodiment of the herein disclosed invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangement of the components in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention herein described is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways which will be obvious to those skilled in the art. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present disclosed device. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent construction and methodology insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention. As used in the claims to describe the various inventive aspects and embodiments, “comprising” means including, but not limited to, whatever follows the word “comprising”. Thus, use of the term “comprising” indicates that the listed elements are required or mandatory, but that other elements are optional and may or may not be present. By “consisting of” is meant including, and limited to, whatever follows the phrase “consisting of”. Thus, the phrase “consisting of” indicates that the listed elements are required or mandatory, and that no other elements may be present. By “consisting essentially of” is meant including any elements listed after the phrase, and limited to other elements that do not interfere with or contribute to the activity or action specified in the disclosure for the listed elements. Thus, the phrase “consisting essentially of” indicates that the listed elements are required or mandatory, but that other elements are optional and may or may not be present depending upon whether or not they affect the activity or action of the listed elements. The objects features, and advantages of the present invention, as well as the advantages thereof over existing prior art, which will become apparent from the description to follow, are accomplished by the improvements described in this specification and hereinafter described in the following detailed description which fully discloses the invention, but should not be considered as placing limitations thereon.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a part of the specification, illustrate some, but not the only or exclusive, examples of embodiments and/or features. It is intended that the embodiments and figures disclosed herein are to be considered illustrative rather than limiting. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the invention.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the invention installed inside a tire.

Other aspects of the present invention shall be more readily understood when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and the following detailed description, neither of which should be considered limiting.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

In this description, the directional prepositions of up, upwardly, down, downwardly, front, back, top, upper, bottom, lower, left, right and other such terms refer to the device as it is oriented and appears in the drawings and are used for convenience only; they are not intended to be limiting or to imply that the device has to be used or positioned in any particular orientation.

FIG. 1 showing a perspective view of the invention 1 being comprised of at least four, L-shaped, corner members made of a rectangular, hollow, rigid material such as, but not limited to, steel, aluminum tubing and the like. Each end of said corner members being configured to receive another end of a corner member with apertures allowing them to be interlocked together at various lengths with bolts therein. Two of said corner members 3 having handles 4 that are cylindrical in shape and being made of a rigid material such as steel etc. disposed along one internal side of the corner member's horizontal axis. A distal side of said handle corner members 3 having circular, hollow support cylinders 6 protruding perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the corner members. Said support cylinders 6 allowing the invention to fit and grip the inside of a tractor tire. The figure also showing the other two corner members 3 (without handles) having weight plates 8 with apertures therein. Said corner members 3 also having flange plates 5 (made of a rigid material such as, but not limited to steel, aluminum and the like) with apertures fixedly connected and configured to receive bolts to selectively secure said weight plates 8 thereon. The weight plates 8 also being constructed of a plurality of different weights to allow a user to make the apparatus heavier for exercise training preference.

FIG. 2 showing a front view of invention 1 and depicting handles 4 and plate members 11 protruding inwards.

FIG. 3 showing an exploded perspective view of invention 1 having handle corner members 3 being slidably and selectively interlocking with plate corner member 2 by means of bolt 12 and fastener 9. FIG. 3 also showing weights 8 being made of a rigid material having a predetermined heaviness and having a planar ‘C-shape.” Said plates 8 being selectively affixed to said plate corner member 2 by means of bolt 7 and fastener 9.

FIG. 4 showing a perspective view of invention 1 installed within the inside diameter of tractor tire 10. Inner tire 10 wall being operatively sandwiched between planar plate members 11 and weight plates 8.

It is additionally noted and anticipated that although the device is shown in its most simple form, various components and aspects of the device may be differently shaped or slightly modified when forming the invention herein. As such those skilled in the art will appreciate the descriptions and depictions set forth in this disclosure or merely meant to portray examples of preferred modes within the overall scope and intent of the invention, and are not to be considered limiting in any manner. While all of the fundamental characteristics and features of the invention have been shown and described herein, with reference to particular embodiments thereof, a latitude of modification, various changes and substitutions are intended in the foregoing disclosure and it will be apparent that in some instances, some features of the invention may be employed without a corresponding use of other features without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth. It should also be understood that various substitutions, modifications, and variations may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. 

1-4. (canceled)
 5. A tractor tire exercise apparatus comprised of the following parts: (a) handle corner members; (b) support cylinders; (c) weight corner members; (d) weights; and (e) bolts with fasteners.
 6. The tractor tire exercise apparatus of claim 5 wherein at least two of the handle corner members having circular handles and a plurality of apertures.
 7. The tractor tire exercise apparatus of claim 5 wherein the handle corner members having hollow support cylinders protruding perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the corner members.
 8. The tractor tire exercise apparatus of claim 5 wherein the weight corner members having a plurality of apertures.
 9. The tractor tire exercise apparatus of claim 5 wherein the weight corner members having hollow support cylinders protruding perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the weight corner members.
 10. The tractor tire exercise apparatus of claim 5 wherein the weights having a plurality of apertures.
 11. A tractor tire exercise, the method comprising: (a) interlocking corner members; (b) adjusting corner members to tractor tires having varying inside diameters; (c) adjusting weight; (d) gripping a side wall of the tractor tire; and (d) lifting the tractor tire.
 12. The tractor tire exercise of claim 11 wherein the interlocking of members including the steps of inserting bolts and fasteners in apertures of claim
 1. 13. The tractor tire exercise of claim 11 wherein the adjusting weight including the steps of adding or removing weights and inserting bolts and fasteners in apertures of claim
 1. 14. The tractor tire exercise of claim 11 wherein the lifting of the tractor tire including the step of grasping and pulling on the handles of claim
 1. 